Recorded in Washington, DC, on July 10, 2017.
SWF held a luncheon panel discussion on Capitol Hill that brought together private sector experts to discuss the current space debris situation, what steps are being done (or not done) to address it, whether the blanket 25-year rule is still sufficient, and what role industry can play in helping ensuring the long-term sustainability of space while fostering continued innovation and growth of the space sector.
In 2012, Secure World Foundation (SWF) hosted an event on Capitol Hill called "Trash in the Skies: The Challenge of Space Debris" to discuss the impact the growing amount of space debris has had on space activities. The event highlighted the then estimated 22,000 pieces of space debris larger than a softball that could destroy a satellite in a collision, and the hundreds of thousands of pieces of smaller debris that could cause serious damage. The event also discussed the importance of improving space situational awareness (SSA) for managing the risk posed by space debris, and national and international efforts to mitigate space debris. The biggest effort focused on implementing voluntary space debris mitigation guidelines, the most important of which stipulated that no objects should be left in a protected region for longer than 25 years after the end of their useful life. In addition, the space community needed to focus on developing the capability to start removing space debris from orbit, in order to avoid long-term growth in increased risk over time.
Five years later, there have been few meaningful improvements in the situation. Space debris still continues to pose a threat to space activities. Compliance with the 25-year rule hovers around 40-60%, a rate scientists have concluded is insufficient to stave off long-term growth. Additionally, there have been only very limited efforts made to develop debris removal technologies, particularly in the United States where both NASA and the Department of Defense have shown little willingness to prioritize it. At the same time, the commercial space industry has grown, with dozens of new companies raising billions in private investment to embark on new and innovative uses of space. Several of these companies are planning large constellations of hundreds to thousands of satellites, sparking new concerns about space debris and congestion in space.
More details, including transcripts, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2017.
SWF co-sponsored, with the National Space Weather Partnership, the 2017 the Space Weather Enterprise Forum. This year’s theme was "Implementing a National Space Weather Partnership.”
The forum brought together a blended audience of space weather experts from both research and operations, space weather users from the public and private sectors, academia, international representatives, and policy makers. One of the event objectives was continuing outreach and education to raise awareness of space weather effects on systems and humans and to provide information on available services.
Speakers
More details, including transcripts, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2017.
SWF co-sponsored, with the National Space Weather Partnership, the 2017 the Space Weather Enterprise Forum. This year’s theme was "Implementing a National Space Weather Partnership.”
The forum brought together a blended audience of space weather experts from both research and operations, space weather users from the public and private sectors, academia, international representatives, and policy makers. One of the event objectives was continuing outreach and education to raise awareness of space weather effects on systems and humans and to provide information on available services.
Speakers
More details, including transcripts, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2017.
SWF co-sponsored, with the National Space Weather Partnership, the 2017 the Space Weather Enterprise Forum. This year’s theme was "Implementing a National Space Weather Partnership.”
The forum brought together a blended audience of space weather experts from both research and operations, space weather users from the public and private sectors, academia, international representatives, and policy makers. One of the event objectives was continuing outreach and education to raise awareness of space weather effects on systems and humans and to provide information on available services.
Speakers
More details, including transcripts, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2017.
SWF co-sponsored, with the National Space Weather Partnership, the 2017 the Space Weather Enterprise Forum. This year’s theme was "Implementing a National Space Weather Partnership.”
The forum brought together a blended audience of space weather experts from both research and operations, space weather users from the public and private sectors, academia, international representatives, and policy makers. One of the event objectives was continuing outreach and education to raise awareness of space weather effects on systems and humans and to provide information on available services.
Speakers
More details, including transcripts, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on June 27, 2017.
SWF co-sponsored, with the National Space Weather Partnership, the 2017 the Space Weather Enterprise Forum. This year’s theme was "Implementing a National Space Weather Partnership.”
The forum brought together a blended audience of space weather experts from both research and operations, space weather users from the public and private sectors, academia, international representatives, and policy makers. One of the event objectives was continuing outreach and education to raise awareness of space weather effects on systems and humans and to provide information on available services.
Speakers
More details, including transcripts, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington DC, on May 18, 2017.
The Embassy of Italy, the U.S. Department of State, and Secure World Foundation held a discussion on space weather as a global challenge with a focus on research, operations and preparedness. This event updated the international community on progress made toward implementing the U.S. National Space Weather Strategy and advances in Italy, Europe, and beyond.
Featuring space-weather experts from across the world, the morning's three panels focused on space weather research and observations, space weather services, and industry perspectives. Following lunch, the participants gathered for technical discussions about improving research and observation, developing international frameworks, and enhancing preparedness.
More details can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Colorado Springs, CO, on April 6, 2017.
There are an increasing number of governmental and private sector actors in space, which could lead to existing new applications and benefits on Earth but also increased space sustainability challenges. To discuss these issues, SWF held an luncheon panel discussion at the 33rd Space Symposium. The panel featured a variety of perspectives to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing new actors, and the issues and potential positive benefits that the growth in participants poses to existing actors, with the goal of pointing out that structures need to be in place to ensure that all can continue to benefit from access to and use of space over the long-term. SWF presented our new Handbook for New Space Actors, an electronic version of which can be found here.
More details can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on January 27, 2017.
On January 27, 1967, the Outer Space Treaty was opened for signature in Moscow, London, and Washington DC. On the fiftieth anniversary of this occasion, a luncheon symposium was held at Georgetown University to reflect on the development of the Outer Space Treaty, the fundamental role the US government played in its development, as well as rationales behind the treaty and fundamentals of public international law underpinning the document and informing our understanding of it.
This event was organized by the American Society of International Law (ASIL) with the support of the Secure World Foundation and the Georgetown Space Law Society.
Speakers (in order of appearance):
More details, including a video recording of the event, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on January 17, 2017.
More details, including speaker bios and a video recording of the event, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2016.
On June 17, 2016, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) agreed to twelve long-term sustainability (LTS) guidelines, representing “best practices” for the safe and responsible use of space. These twelve voluntary guidelines mark a successful milestone out of years of discussions within COPUOS and represent the Committee’s role in fostering international cooperation in ensuring that everyone can continue to derive benefits from the use of space over the long-term.
Co-organized by the Secure World Foundation and the U.S. Department of State, "Progress and Planning Ahead: International Best Practices for Outer Space Sustainability" brought together top U.S. and international space policy experts from governments, industry, and academia to discuss the current state of the long-term sustainability guidelines discussions, national implementation strategies, and next steps for the international community to ensure that space is sustainable over the long-term.
This podcast is a recording of the fourth panel from the event, on "Multilateral Organizations: International Efforts and Successes." Speakers:
More details, including speaker bios and a video recording of the event, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2016.
On June 17, 2016, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) agreed to twelve long-term sustainability (LTS) guidelines, representing “best practices” for the safe and responsible use of space. These twelve voluntary guidelines mark a successful milestone out of years of discussions within COPUOS and represent the Committee’s role in fostering international cooperation in ensuring that everyone can continue to derive benefits from the use of space over the long-term.
Co-organized by the Secure World Foundation and the U.S. Department of State, "Progress and Planning Ahead: International Best Practices for Outer Space Sustainability" brought together top U.S. and international space policy experts from governments, industry, and academia to discuss the current state of the long-term sustainability guidelines discussions, national implementation strategies, and next steps for the international community to ensure that space is sustainable over the long-term.
This podcast is a recording of the third panel from the event, on "Multilateral Organizations: International Efforts and Successes." Speakers:
More details, including speaker bios and a video recording of the event, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2016.
On June 17, 2016, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) agreed to twelve long-term sustainability (LTS) guidelines, representing “best practices” for the safe and responsible use of space. These twelve voluntary guidelines mark a successful milestone out of years of discussions within COPUOS and represent the Committee’s role in fostering international cooperation in ensuring that everyone can continue to derive benefits from the use of space over the long-term.
Co-organized by the Secure World Foundation and the U.S. Department of State, "Progress and Planning Ahead: International Best Practices for Outer Space Sustainability" brought together top U.S. and international space policy experts from governments, industry, and academia to discuss the current state of the long-term sustainability guidelines discussions, national implementation strategies, and next steps for the international community to ensure that space is sustainable over the long-term.
This podcast is a recording of the second panel from the event, on "Multilateral Organizations: International Efforts and Successes." Speakers:
More details, including speaker bios and a video recording of the event, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Recorded in Washington, DC, on October 21, 2016.
On June 17, 2016, the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UN COPUOS) agreed to twelve long-term sustainability (LTS) guidelines, representing “best practices” for the safe and responsible use of space. These twelve voluntary guidelines mark a successful milestone out of years of discussions within COPUOS and represent the Committee’s role in fostering international cooperation in ensuring that everyone can continue to derive benefits from the use of space over the long-term.
Co-organized by the Secure World Foundation and the U.S. Department of State, "Progress and Planning Ahead: International Best Practices for Outer Space Sustainability" brought together top U.S. and international space policy experts from governments, industry, and academia to discuss the current state of the long-term sustainability guidelines discussions, national implementation strategies, and next steps for the international community to ensure that space is sustainable over the long-term.
This podcast is a recording of the introductions and first panel from the event, on "Multilateral Organizations: International Efforts and Successes." Speakers:
More details, including speaker bios and a video recording of the event, can be found at the event page on the SWF website.
Space activities are becoming more globalized. Today, more than sixty countries operate one or more satellite in space, and virtually all countries depend on space for some combination of national security, social, and economic benefits. There are an increasing number of space actors as a result. Furthermore, countries with existing space programs are also expanding their space activities into new sectors. At the same time, the world is seeing a boom in private sector activity in space, driven by the commercialization of technology and increasing availability of capital.
As these new government and private sector actors enter into the space domain, and existing actors push into new areas, they face both challenges and opportunities. The growing use of space applications is helping address a greater number of challenges on Earth, while expanding commercial activity is leading to increased innovation and the potential development of new capabilities and lower costs. At the same time, new private sector actors face a steep learning curve for understanding regulatory requirements and safe space operations, and countries face challenges in putting in place national law and policy.
In conjunction with its project to develop a Handbook for new Actors in Space, SWF held a luncheon panel discussion on May 10, 2016, in Washington, DC, to examine the challenges and opportunities facing new actors in space. Panelists provided a range of governmental, international, and private sector perspectives on their experiences, the obstacles they face and efforts to address these challenges.
More information, speaker bios, and presentations can be found on the event page on the SWF website.
As the domestic and international community discusses and implements policy and legislation focused on space resource rights, this panel will focus on identifying legal, policy, and business implications of that activity. The discussion will focus on practical considerations related to the development of space resources-related regulatory frameworks and their relationship to both commercial development and international commitments.
On May 5, 2016, SWF and the Alliance for Space Development (ASD) hosted a panel discussion in Washington, DC, on "Asteroids, Mining, and Policy: Practical Consideration of Space Resource Rights" to discuss these issues.
For further information, speaker bios, and presentations please see the event page on the SWF website.
Speakers:
Space security is an increasingly important issue, and one that has taken on new meaning in recent years with increased concerns about protecting space capabilities from both intentional and environmental threats.
On April 14, 2016, the Secure World Foundation hosted an invite-only luncheon panel discussion at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado, as part of the 32nd Annual Space Symposium, to discuss the current state of space security using the lens of existing norms of behavior, concerns about the resiliency of space assets, and changing attitudes about space protection.
For further information and speaker presentations, please visit the event page on the SWF website.
Moderator: Dr. Michael Simpson, SWF Executive Director.
Our continued ability to get benefits from space assets will be interrupted if spectrum is not responsibly protected. This issue is coming up more and more often, particularly so at meetings last November in Geneva for the World Radiocommunication Conference and as policymakers look at the future of GPS and other positioning, navigation, and timing systems. As the U.S. government takes on the mantle of looking at how its space assets can overall be more resilient, spectrum protection is a key part of this discussion.
This lunch-time panel will examine what major issues could potentially affect spectrum availability and utility over the near term and discuss what policies and/or legislation could help with those challenges.
For further information and speaker bios, please see the event page on the SWF website.
Moderator: Ms. Victoria Samson, SWF Washington Office Director.
Recent multi-stakeholder discussions have highlighted the limited awareness on spectrum-related issues and their impacts within the broader Earth observations community, and the challenge of capturing the extent of reliance on potentially impacted programs and systems.
Sponsored by the Secure World Foundation, this morning panel event seeks to raise awareness of the risks facing the frequency bands used for meteorological purposes within the international GEO community, discuss opportunities for improved routine engagement between the relevant stakeholders, particularly at the regional level, and examine ways to communicate the impact of spectrum management decisions on the delivery of critical information services to policymakers.
For further information and speaker bios, please see the event page on the SWF website.
Moderator: SWF Executive Director Dr. Michael Simpson
Speakers:
Recorded September 22, 2015
Like many other sectors of space activities that were once "government only," the notion of privately owned and operated space stations is no longer science fiction. Within the next decade, it is likely we will have a scenario where there are multiple commercial and government space stations on orbit, with a mix of multiple government and private customers and a mix of government and commercial transportation services going back and forth. Such a scenario holds both incredible opportunity and a number of significant challenges to resolve.
This panel discussion brought together experts from civil society, industry, and the U.S. government to discuss what this future may look like, and what economic, policy, and regulatory challenges need to be overcome along the way.
For further information and a copy of the presentations, please see the event page on the SWF website.
Moderator: Mr. Ian Christensen, Project Manager, Secure World Foundation
Speakers:
This event was recorded on March 27, 2015.
On Friday, March 27, 2015, the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the Secure World Foundation (SWF) hosted a luncheon panel discussion from 12:00pm to 2:00pm EST on “Challenges In Sharing Weather Satellite Spectrum With Terrestrial Networks” in Washington, DC.
In order to meet the growing demand for wireless broadband connectivity, the U.S. government is developing strategies to share radio frequency spectrum between federal and commercial users. Spectrum historically reserved for broadcasting meteorological satellite data to users from the current generation of polar-orbiting satellites was recently auctioned nationwide by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for over $2.4 billion. Federal regulators are now studying additional bands that may be shared in a future spectrum auction, including those currently used to download weather data from NOAA’s Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) and for the future GOES-R series.
If GOES downlink spectrum is selected for sharing, there is a possibility of radio frequency interference between the new terrestrial commercial broadcasts and the existing satellite broadcasts that may render the satellite-received data unusable or degraded. Such interference could have significant impacts on the GOES-Variable (GVAR), GOES-R GOES Rebroadcast (GRB), the Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) - which is used to support first responders around the country, High-Rate or Low-Rate Information Transmission (HRIT or LRIT), as well as relay of hydrometeorological data from the GOES Data Collection System (DCS), used for monitoring and warning of floods.
A panel of experts discussed these issues, including the motivation for the sharing, potential impacts to end users of any interference, and options for mitigating potential interference.
Speakers
Presentations
Recorded March 23, 2015
Although some may consider the two to be at odds with each other, international law has a direct impact on military activities in both peacetime and during conflict. International law defines what constitutes an armed attack, the right to national self-defense, and the limits on use of force during an armed conflict consistent with the Geneva Conventions.
Over the last several decades, legal scholars and military practitioners have clarified the rules of international law applicable to military activities in several domains. This includes the Harvard Manual on International Law Applicable to Air and Missile Warfare, and most recently the Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare. However, to date there has not been any significant attempts to clarify how international law applies to military activities in space.
The panel discussion provided an overview of international law as it applies to military activities, and examples of how it has been clarified in certain domains, such as air and cyber, or for certain types of weapons, such as autonomous systems. It also examined the current status of international law as applied to military activities in the space domain, and potential benefits of further clarifying the existing norms and interpretations.
Speakers:
Wing Commander Duncan Blake, Royal Australian Air Force
Mr. Gary Brown, Head of Communications, Washington Delegation, International Committee of the Red Cross
Dr. Cassandra Steer, Executive Director, Centre of Research in Air and Space Law, McGill University
Dr. Peter Hays, Adjunct Professor, George Washington University
Moderator: Mr. Brian Weeden, Technical Advisor, Secure World Foundation
Recorded January 27, 2015
The Arctic region is changing rapidly, allowing for new opportunities to learn more about this remote area, use it to expand economic development, and build off it for national security and political benefits. However, there are challenges involved in ensuring that there is assured access to the Arctic, monitoring the physical changes it is undergoing, using the Arctic in a sustainable manner, and creating a stable environment for a region that could be the site of disputed land claims. Space plays an important role in monitoring conditions in the Arctic and in enabling the management of resources there. Given that the United States will assume the chairmanship of the intergovernmental Arctic Council in April, this panel discussion examined the implications of changing Arctic conditions and how space can help improve understanding of and mitigate the disruption from those changes.
For more information, please visit the event page.
Speakers
Recorded December 9, 2014
Space situational awareness (SSA) - commonly defined as knowledge about the space environment and activities in space - is an important part of space sustainability, safety, and security. SSA has historically been mostly a military mission that focused on tracking the locations of objects in space and detecting space-based threats. However, the nature of SSA is evolving as the number of actors in space increases, including an increasing proportion of non-governmental players and space activities, and the nature of the threats to active satellites diversifies and expands to include natural and human-generated threats, as well as intentional and unintentional threats.
Secure World Foundation (SWF) held a luncheon panel discussion to discuss the changing nature of SSA and examine initiatives being developed by both the U.S. government and non-governmental entities to enhance SSA.
For more information, please visit the event page.
Panel 1 - Established Services, Providers, and Policies
Mr. Richard Buennneke, Senior Advisor for National Security Space Policy in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, U.S. Department of State
Mr. John Hill, Principal Director, Space Policy, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
Mr. Andrew D'Uva, President, Providence Access Company
Panel 2 - Emerging Services, Providers, and Policies
Dr. Michael Romanowski, Director, Commercial Space Integration, Federal Aviation Administration
Mr. Paul Welsh, Vice President of Business Development, Analytical Graphics, Inc. (AGI)
Mr. Matthew Bold, Chief Architect, Ground Based Space Situational Awareness (GBSSA), Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center
The discussion was be moderated by Mr. Brian Weeden, SWF Technical Advisor.